Mission Statement

This project is not bound to any political, ethnic, social or religious groupings. The aim of this project is to provide free available multilingual Afghan calendars, that are accessible on all major platforms and provide access to all functionality via free tools. The calendars are released under the GNU General Public License.

News

2011/03/20 (1389/12/29):Sorry for the delay this year, calendars for 1390 (2011-12) are now available for download. Calendars for 1391 (2012-13) will follow in the next days.

Download

The calendars are in the PDF format. For viewing and printing you need a viewer program like XPdf or Acrobat reader. These programs are in general already installed on most computers. If not you can download a PDF viewer free of charge (see links section).
Currently over 100 different calendars are available. For a complete list you can view the document folder at Savannah (thanks to Savannah for hosting this project). At the moment only the "Dari-English" and the "Dari-German" versions are ready. The "Pashto-English" and the "Pashto-German" version will follow in near future.

Why Calendar Necessary?

Date conversion is not that easy as one would think. You can find some important documents were the date conversion has an error of one day. In real life (e.g. project deadline or meetings) one day earlier or later makes a huge difference.
Popular examples for date conversion errors are the English and German translation of the Afghan constitution from 2004. If you find further examples of date conversion erors please send me an e-mail afghanCalendar [at] gmx [dot] net.

English translation of constitution:

Date conversion error:
The dates were compared with the original Dari and Pashto version of the constitution. In the preamble the 14th Jadi 1328 (1382/10/14) corresponds to the 2004/01/04 and not to the 2004/01/03. In article eighteen the 28th Asad corresponds to the 19th August and not to the 18th August. The 8th Saur corresponds to the 28th of April and not to the 27th of April.

Calendar algorithm

Definition

Article 18:
The source for the calendar shall be based upon the migration of the Prophet (praise and peace be upon him).
The basis for state offices shall be the solar calendar (Hejrah-e shamsi).
Fridays as well as the 28th of Asad (19th, in leap years 18th August) and the 8th Saur (28th, in leap years 27th April) shall be public holidays.
Other holidays shall be regulated by the law.

Calendar types

Gregorian calendar (Solar Christian):
Is mainly used in international relations.

Hejrah-e qamari calendar (Lunar Islamic):
Is used for religious holidays.

Hejrah-e shamsi calendar

The Hejrah-e shamsi calendar starts from the year of the emigration (hejrah) of the Islamic Prophet Mohammad from Mecca to Medina in 622A.D.. It has 12 months, consisting of 29 to 31 days. The begin of the Hejrah-e shamsi Year (1. Hammal) corresponds to the 21. March (20. March in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. The year has 365 days and in leap years 366 days.
The leap years in the Hejrah-e shamsi calendar can be computed by a arithmetic formula. A year S in the Hejrah-e shamsi calendar is a leap year if and only if the Gregorian year G=S+621 is a leap year.
In a Hejrah-e shamsi year S two Gregorian year G1 and G2 partly occur, with G1<G2. The Gregorian year G is chosen as G1. For example in the Hejrah-e shamsi year S=1379 the Gregorian year G1=2000 and G2=2001 partly occur. G is chosen as G:=G1=2000.
The year 1379 of the Hejrah-e shamsi calendar was a leap year, since the year 2000 in the Gregorian calendar was a leap year.

Month Nr.

Dari (Hejrah-e shamsi)

Pashtu (Hejrah-e shamsi)

English (Gregorien)

Days

1

Hammal

Wray

March-April

31

2

Saur

Ghwayai

April-May

31

3

Jauza

Gargholai

May-June

31

4

Saratan

Chungash

June-July

31

5

Asad

Zmarai

July-August

31

6

Sonbola

Wazhay

August-September

31

7

Mizan

Talah

September-October

30

8

Aqrab

Larum

October-November

30

9

Qaus

Lindah

November-December

30

10

Jadi

Merghumai

December-January

30

11

Dalw

Salwagah

January-February

30

12

Hut

Kab

February-March

29 (30 in leap years)

Hejrah-e qamari calendar

The months in the Hejrah-e qamari calendar are alternatively 30 and 29 days long. In leap years the 12th month has 31 days. The Lunar year is eleven days shorter than the solar calendar. The Hejrah-e qamari calendar months "Ramadan" and "Shawwal" define the Muslim fasting. The starting day of these two months are observed by authorities. A difference of one day can occur between the observed and the pre-computed calendar. All 30 years a leap year occurs to synchronize the calendar with the moon phases.

Month Nr.

Arabic (Hejrah-e qamari)

Arabic shortcut (Hejrah-e qamari)

amount days

1

Muharram

Muharram

30

2

Safar

Safar

29

3

Rabi' al-Awal

Rabi'1

30

4

Rabi' al-Thaani

Rabi'2

29

5

Jumada al-Awal

Jumada1

30

6

Jumada al-Thaani

Jumada2

29

7

Rajab

Rajab

30

8

Sha'ban

Sha'ban

29

9

Ramadan

Ramadan

30

10

Shawwal

Shawwal

29

11

Zul al-Qi'dah

Z.Qi'dah

30

12

Zul al-Hijjah

Z.Hijjah

29 (31 in leap years)

Conversion from/ to Gregorian calendar

The Gregorian year 1990 (2000) corresponds to the Hejrah-e shamsi year 1369 (1378) and the Hejrah-e qamari year 1410 (1420).
To convert a date from the Gregorian to the Hejrah-e shamsi or Hejrah-e qamari calendar one can use the following reference dates:

The 1st Hammal of the year 1 in the Hejrah-e shamsi calendar corresponds to the 1st Muharram of the year 1 in the Hejrah-e qamari calendar and to the 21st March 622 in the Gregorian calendar

1th January 2000 in the Gregorian calendar corresponds to the 11th Jadi 1378 in the Hejrah-e shamsi calendar and to 24th Ramadan of the year 1420 in the Hejrah-e qamari calendar.

Afghan holidays

Public holidays:

These holidays are defined in article 18 of the Afghan constitution from 2004. The holidays occur on a fixed dates and are celebrated in all Afghanistan.

Juma (Friday):
The week ends on Friday (Juma) which is the day of rest.

Jeshen (Independence day): 28th Asad = 19th August (18th August in leap years) The 28th of Asad (19th of August, in leap years 18th August) is the national holiday. Remembering that Afghanistan got its independence in 1919 after the end of the 3th Anglo-Afghan war.

Victory Day: 8th Saur = 28th April (27th April in leap years) The 8th Saur (28th April, in leap years 27th March) remembers the fall of the pro-soviet regime in 1992.

Religious holidays:

Besides the holidays above the following holidays are also celebrated partly.

* The islamic holidays depend on the Hejrah-e qamari calendar. The dates are observed by autorities rather than pre-computed. The exact dates may vary according to the sighting of the moon.

Ashura: 10th Muharram*
Ashura is an Arabic word meaning "ten". It is celebrated on the 10th day of the Hejrah-e qamari month Muharram. It is the day that the Islamic prophet Muhammad's grandson, Husayn, was killed at the battle of Kerbala.

Mawleed al-Nabi (Prophet's birthday): 12th Rabi al-Awal*
It is celebrated on the 12th day of the Hejrah-e qamari month Rabi' al-Awal. On this day the birthday of the Islamic prophet Muhammad is celebrated.

Awal Ramadan (First of Ramadan): 1st Ramadan*
This holiday is celebrated at the 1st of the Hejrah-e qamari month Ramadan. It marks the beginning of the fasting month Ramadan.

Laylat al-Qaddr (Night of Measure): ≈ 27th Ramadan*
Muslims believe that it was on this night that God has first send down the first verses of the Quran via the angel Gabriel to the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It is also the anniversary of the night in which the Quran was first communicated in its entirety to Muhammad. The Quran (sura Al'Qadr) regards this night better than one thousand months.
There is a uncertainty about the exact date. It is believed that the night is in the last third of the Hejrah-e qamari month Ramadan. The most likely date is the night of the 27th (e.g. night from 26th to 27th) of Ramadan.

Eid al-Fitr (End of Ramazan): 1st Shawwal*
Eid is the arabic word for feast. The holiday is celebrated at the end of Ramadan, at the 1st of the Hejrah-e qamari month Shawwal. Celebrations extend up to three days.

Arafat: 9th Zul al-Hijjah*
On the mountain of Arafat also known as Jabal ar-Rahmah (Mountain of Mercy) the Islamic prophet Muhammad delivered his farewell sermon at the end of his life.
Arafat is celebrated one day before Eid al-Adha (Festival of sacrifice) on the 9th of the Hejrah-e qamari month Zul al-Hijjah.

Eid al-Adha or Eid al-Qurban (Festival of Sacrifice): 10th Zul al-Hijjah*
This festival commemorates the prophet Abraham's devotion to God. Celebrations extend up to three days.

Other holidays:

Nauruz (New Year): 1st Hammal = 21st March (20th March in leap years) The Hejrah-e shamsi year starts on 1st Hammal (21st March, in leap years 20th March), which is the New year's day (Nauruz). Nauruz is celebrated all over in Afghanistan. This holiday occurs on a fixed date.

Historical Events

The main aim was to keep the calendar historical correct and uninfluenced of any political, ethnic or social point of view. The relevant historical events in the calendar were verified against at least two of the following references:

If you still find errors or think they formulations are not neutral please send me a mail to afghanCalendar [at] gmx [dot] net. If possible include also a reference.

ToDo

Create Pashto version of calendar

Create other calendar formats (e.g Dairy)

Enlarge calendar archive to year 1 ;-)

Create calendars which contain musical events or afghan recipes

Translate calendar to other languages (like French and Italy)

Improvements

I am always ready to accept constructive criticism, or review requests. If you have any questions, comments, criticisms, I would greatly appreciate your contacting me via e-mail at afghanCalendar [at] gmx [dot] net .
I believe in the idea of open projects. The calendar can be printed and used free of charge (see license section).
This project is mantained by me in my free time. If you like it you can support it with some small donation via PayPal.

License and Disclaimer

Copyright (C) 2006 Alekozai.
The calendars are free software; you can redistribute them and/ or modify
them under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
(at your option) any later version.
This website and the calendars are distributed in the hope that they will be
useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
GNU General Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330,
Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.
A copy of the GNU General Public License can be downloaded from the GNU website.

FAQ

Which calendars are used in Afghanistan?
In Afghanistan the Hejrah-e shamsi, the Gregorian and the Hejrah-e qamari calendar are used in parallel. For further details view the section "Calendar Algorithm".

What are the languages Dari and Pashto?
Dari and Pashto are the official languages spoken in Afghanistan (see article 16 of the Afghan constitution from 2004). Both languages are used in public life in Afghanistan.

In which direction does one read the calendar?
Dari and Pashto (official languages spoken in Afghanistan) are written from right to left. This is also the order of the months in the calendar. The first month is printed on the top right corner. The third month on the top left corner. The last month is printed on the bottom left corner.

How to read Dari or Pashto Numbers?
Dari and Pashto are written from right to left (latin languages from left to right). But the numbers in Dari and Pashto are written from left to right! E.g. "15" is written as "one five" and not as "five one". In general there is no difference to English :-) .

Latin

Dari/ Pashto

0

۰

1

۱

2

۲

3

۳

4

۴

5

۵

6

۶

7

۷

8

۸

9

۹

10

۱۰

15

۱۵

100

۱۰۰

1000

۱۰۰۰

1378

۱۳۷۸

What are the names of the Dari and Pashto weekdays?
The week starts on Saturday (Shahnbeh) and ends on Friday (Jhumah) which is the day of rest.

English

Dari/ Pashto

Pronunciation

Meaning

Saturday

شنبه

Shahnbeh

Shahnbeh

Sunday

۱ شنبه

Yahk Shahnbeh

One Shahnbeh

Monday

۲ شنبه

Dhu Shahnbeh

Two Shahnbeh

Tuesday

۳ شنبه

She Shahnbeh

Three Shahnbeh

Wednesday

۴ شنبه

Char Shahnbeh

Four Shahnbeh

Thursday

۵ شنبه

Painge Shahnbeh

Five Shahnbeh

Friday

جمعه

Jhumah

Jhumah

How are holidays marked?
For each day you find on the right side the Hejrah-e shamsi day (black), on the top left the Hejrah-e qamari day (green) and on the bottom right the Gregorian day (black). Holidays are marked in red.

Which project URL should I bookmark?
The project is in an early stage. The homepage and the folder structure could change. Please bookmark the URL http://www.nongnu.org/afghancalendar . From here you will be redirected to the current website.

What is the name of the project?
The official project name is: Afghan Calendar project .

How to print a A3 document?
There are several options:

Most printer drivers have a setting to print a A3 document onto two A4 pages. For Windows please look in the documentation of your printer driver. In Linux or Unix systems you can use the program "poster" (not yet tested).

If your pinter has no such settings you can use the free program PosteRazor (Linux, Mac and Windows binaries are available). To convert the PDF document to an image (png) the script "convert" from the free ImageMagick software suite (Linux, Mac and Windows binaries are available) can be used.

I am also greatful to the OpenOffice.org project for creating a powerful mulitplatform and multilingual office suite and XPdf and Adobe for their PDF file viewer. I am deeply indepted to the DejaVu and the Khotot project for their open source unicode fonts.

Finally I also thank several other projects and users which I forgot to mention.